Ask-a-planorak #11 - Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation

Have you noticed? Housing delivery has been in the news recently. I say recently - when is it ever not in the news. More consultations to speed up the system, to prioritise brownfield land (again), a much-lauded and discussed Competition Markets Authority study on the housebuidling market.

A good time then, you may’ve thought, to talk to someone who actually knows something about this. Kate Henderson is the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation - the “voice of England’s housing associations” whose members provide homes for around six million people.

Before that, Kate was Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association. So. We’re talking about a #planorak of the very highest order.

So how did Kate rise to these heady heights? What does she think of the NHF’s core mission, and how it’s going? What would she do as Secretary of State for the day? For answers to these questions and more, here are 10 quick-hit questions and answers from Kate:

1) What was your journey into a life of planning?

I didn’t have a conventional route into planning, in fact when I became Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association back in 2010, it was a number of firsts in the charity’s 120-year history – I was the youngest, first woman and perhaps most surprisingly, the first non-planner to run the TCPA.

And what attracted me to planning in the first place? A Geology degree taught me to love maps, a Masters in Energy Policy made me realise planning is an essential part of the solution to the climate emergency, but my biggest motivator was wanting to do something about the housing crisis.

2) You spent many years as chief executive of the Town and Country Planning Association. How do you think we should be exciting young people about joining the profession?

The decisions we make about the built environment can’t be easily undone. They’re not just about bricks and mortar, they are about creating a better society for us to live in and I reckon that’s an exciting career.

3) What drew you to take on your role at the National Housing Federation?

I want to see a country in which everyone has a good quality home that is right for them that they can afford. It’s such a basic premise, which surely everyone can agree on, and yet as a nation we haven’t been getting this right for a long time. Housing associations have a central role in tackling the country’s housing crisis and there is so much more they could do with the right policy, certainty and funding from the government.

4) Could you tell us a bit about what the NHF is, and who it represents?

The NHF is a trade body for housing associations. We represent over 550 housing association members who provide homes to six million people across England. Housing associations are not for profit, charitable organisations who provide housing and support services to people with a range of support needs and to diverse communities across the country, giving people a solid foundation from which to thrive.

As a trade body we work closely with our members and the government to ensure politicians and civil servants understand our members’ views on a vast range of complex housing related issues, such as building safety, homelessness, decarbonisation and Universal Credit. We work to help shape and influence policy decisions on their behalf to ensure any legislative changes support housing associations to continue delivering their social purpose and work well for current and future residents. As an organisation we’re passionate about tackling the housing crisis, and we know that our members play an invaluable role in making that possible.

5) What in your work at the NHF so far has made you most proud?

I’m going to be cheeky and pick three things…

·      Firstly, I’m proud of our influencing work, particularly where this has led to positive legislative change and new government funding. Two examples spring to mind, our lobbying on the Infrastructure Levy and our work to secure funding for energy efficiency and retrofit through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. On the Infrastructure Levy we used all the influencing tools in the toolbox – I gave evidence to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee and the Public Bill Committee on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, we signed cross-sector letters to Ministers and had comment pieces in the media including in The Times. This resulted in the government tabling a number of amendments to the Infrastructure Levy which will help protect the delivery of affordable housing.

·      Secondly, I’m proud of our leadership on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). We’ve helped housing associations take an important step in understanding more about diversity within the sector. Our EDI report sets out the scale of the challenge before us and where we are currently, and helps us to better understand how to get to where we want to be. We’ve got lots to do, but we’re not shying away from it.

·      Thirdly, I’m proud of the work we’ve led with our partners at the Chartered Institute of Housing on trust, quality and resident engagement through the Better Social Housing Review.

6) And what hasn’t yet worked out as well as you’d hoped?

Many things – decades of insufficient funding for new social homes, lack of funding for remediating social homes with safety defects, a desperate need to have ringfenced funding for housing related support, short-term piecemeal and often contradictory policy decisions…the list could go on, but despite this I’m proud of what the social housing sector continues to achieve and just imagine what we could achieve with a more stable, certain policy environment.

7) You have written extensively about the importance of providing more housing, and in particular more affordable housing. You have said that “a decent, affordable home should be a right for us all, wherever we live across the country” and we need a “long term plan” to provide more housing. If you had to pick one thing successive governments have been getting wrong about housing delivery, what would it be?

It would be exactly that – a lack of long-term plan. The housing crisis has been decades in the making and millions of people have been let down by a system that hasn’t worked. Over the years, we’ve become accustomed to continuous short-term, piecemeal housing policies and decisions which haven’t gone anywhere near far enough in solving the problem. What successive governments have got wrong is that they’ve never moved away from short-term thinking and policies on housing.

8) What is your response to this government’s recent “British Homes for British Workers” proposal?

The chronic shortage of social homes is the result of inadequate policy decisions and decades of underfunding by successive governments. What we need is a nationally coordinated long-term plan for housing with serious policy interventions and proper funding to build the tens of thousands of new social homes we need.

9) If we gave you Michael Gove’s job for the day – what’s the first thing you’d do?

I think the government needs to completely rethink the way it approaches planning. Reforms and changes to planning policy over the years haven’t helped us get out of the housing crisis that’s continued to get worse. If I had Michael Gove’s job for the day, the first thing I’d do is set out a planning policy that doesn’t undermine the country’s ability to build new homes, but one that allows us to build at the scale and pace needed to ensure everyone has a good quality home that is right for them that they can afford.

10) What kind of a legacy would you like to leave on the English planning system?

I’d love to see an effective and revitalised planning system which is accountable and delivers more affordable, low carbon housing in sustainable communities. To do this we need to stop positioning housing and the environment as diametric opposites. With a coherent planning system it is entirely possible to meet urgent housing need and secure the future of our natural environment.

And so say all of us! Amen.

Thanks very much for your time, Kate! Keep fighting the good fight. And keep your heads up #planoraks. Spring’s just around the corner. It really is. In the meantime, sharpen your consultation pencils, and do your level best to #keeponplanning.